Sprinklers and Procrastination

Many years ago, I was an extreme perfectionist. What, you say, does that have to do with Sprinklers and Procrastination? Being a new home owner, I had never done sprinklers before. I had read many books on the subject. I had this fear that I wouldn’t live up to my own standards. I might make a mistake. The project had to be perfect, or I shouldn’t even start it. I put off the project for 6 months. I would always find some reason to avoid starting.

Finally, after many months of excuses, I started the project. Sure, I ran into a few snags along the way. The errors were few and most were fixable with a PVC coupler. As time went on I got better and faster. Once the project was completed, I pressure tested the assembly, then ran the sprinklers. The sprinklers worked exactly as designed, it wasn’t perfect, but it was functional. After, I completed the testing, I covered up the ditches where the pipes were laying and no one ever saw any of my work. All they could see were the results of my work.

I learned a few things on that project:

  • PVC is pretty forgiving.
  • PVC Couplers are your friend.
  • Most of the time no one sees your mistakes, they know it just works.
  • Perfection isn’t always necessary. Sometimes, functionality is more important.
  • Procrastination delays success.

Don’t let perfection or fear of failure get in the way of success. Stop making excuses and start being successful.

Till next time, have a great day!

About Wes Johnson

Wes Johnson is a software engineer with extensive experience developing desktop applications. He has also developed firmware for consumer electronics and OEM boards. His experties is C and C++ programming.
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2 Responses to Sprinklers and Procrastination

  1. Ray says:

    When we moved into the house we are living in the sprinkler system was, in a way, hosed. A lot of digging and trouble-shooting later and I finally restored everything to working order.

    When most houses are built it’s called “production.” Since bidding is very competitive every minute and piece of material reduces profit. So it’s not about craft, skill, or technique. It’s about speed and efficiency. The same crew does the same thing over and over again.

    Dig the ditch, toss in the PVC, glue up the fittings, top off the risers, test the system. Then backfill and go to the next. As you stated that gives you “functional” but not necessarily “quality.”

    Ok, I take that back. You can get functional and quality at the same time. However, it’s likely the contractor that provides quality submitted a higher bid, and didn’t get the job.

    • mrwes says:

      I agree with you, I think the only time you get both functionality and quality are when you do it yourself or you pay more for them to use higher quality materials.

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